Swarm Message Board

#skylanders Dear Toys for Bob, I know you folks are really good at making toys. I'm sure this Bob guy is completely overjoyed. Your Skylanders game wasn't too shabby, and I'm really looking forward to the follow-up, Skylanders Giants. I love your work, but you really need to leave the character naming to the people most qualified: profession game journalists. More »

Plucky youngsters drop the deets on Swarm in this behind-the-scenes look.

I'd like to think of Swarm as a playful, overtly sadistic embodiment of the phrase, "like lambs to the slaughter." That's a confusing message, because the game casts you in the role of both the shepherd, who must guide an oblivious blue flock to the end of the level, and the slaughterer, who extracts a real benefit from every minced-up minion.

The swarmlings are clearly designed to be extinguished -- and to extinguish even the smallest blip of sadness or guilt you might feel upon seeing them crushed, burnt, electrocuted or disintegrated in one of the many death traps scattered across the universe's least hospitable planet. Their eyes project no intelligence, their doughy bodies are devoid of gross internal organs and there's not a single personality in a group of 50. They look like stupid, disposable jelly beans.

You'd think that the game would invite you to revel in their torture, what with all the "death medals" you unlock and an ever-increasing online counter that keeps track of all the splattered simpletons. A good score is crucial to advancement in Swarm, and the only way you'll get one is by building up a time-sensitive multiplier that's fueled by point orbs or sacrificed swarmites. If your blue blob is racing across the screen and you don't see any points, you're encouraged to steer a peripheral peon off a cliff or into a fire. It's like swerving your car through a puddle to soak a roadside pedestrian -- it's a dick move, but it's a guilt-tinged delight and on your way.

I'm a big fan of downloadable games. I own something like 70 of them on my console, and I like to think that I have my finger on the pulse of what's coming down the digital pipe. But every once in awhile, something slips under my radar -- something like Swarm. When I found out I was going to be reviewing this new $15 title from Hothead Games, I had no idea what to expect. So needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I started playing and it proved to be a great deal of fun...

Satisfy your darkest hunger for violence with the many deaths of the Swarm!

The Swarm test the age-old concept that you are less likely to become injured or die when grouped together.

Austin, Texas - UTV Ignition Entertainment, alongside Hothead Games, the mad scientists of decidedly unscientific downloadable titles, is pleased to launch from their catapult, the hotly anticipated title Swarm, today on PlayStation Network and tomorrow, March 23rd, on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbo...

With Swarm available today, Ignition and Hothead have released one last trailer demonstrating exactly who the target audience is for the downloadable multi-character platformer: sadistic children. Sadistic children aged 12 or older, of course -- thanks, PEGI.

PSN delivers another week of interesting downloadable titles with PS3's Swarm and PSP's Hoard. If you haven't checked out the demo from last week's PSN exclusive Slam Bolt Scrappers, that's definitely worth taking for a test drive.

For something a bit more machismo, the demo for WWE All Stars is available, along with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow's "Reverie" DLC. Konami kinda just snuck that release in this week for the States, but it should be available in Europe on March 30.

There's plenty more to peruse in the full update after the break.

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Get the straight rap on diversity in the workplace!

The Swarm has been granted its European visa and will enter the union on March 23 and 30 on XBLA and PSN, respectively (while North American PSN users can get it on March 22). Taking control of the "pudgy, clueless little blue morons" will cost 1200 Microsoft Points on Xbox and $14.99 on PSN. PlayStation Plus members get a slight discount, downloading the little goobers for $12.99.

On the surface, Swarm sounds like a Pikmin- or Lemmings-style type of game, but it actually has more in common with platformers, as we recently found out in our hands-on preview.

Hothead's crazy crowd-control platformer, Swarm, is set to arrive en masse by the end of March. According to the game's official Twitter feed, it'll be available on PlayStation Network on Tuesday, March 22, and then on Xbox Live Arcade the following day.

Though it might appear to be a Lemmings-esque puzzle game, the titular Swarm refers to the blob of rotund, blue guys that you guide as a singular entity, while losing errant members of the crowd to horrific death traps in order to maintain a combo. We're confident that years of giving school tours through the local slaughterhouse have imbued us with enough skill to amass a huge score in this game.

[Thanks, DarkKnightRJ]

Can you solve the mystery of the Swarmites this Unconcluded Conundrum?

From the premise of Swarm -- guide a group of identical, stupid creatures through trap-filled words -- and from screenshots and video, it's easy to assume it's a Pikmin-style action-strategy game, with one player character wielding a small army of critters to fulfill goals. At least, it was easy for me to assume that. But there's a lot more action and a lot less strategy than you're thinking. In fact, Swarm is pretty much a platformer, albeit a platformer in which you control 50 avatars simultaneously.

Now you might be thinking that it would be pretty much impossible to control 50 avatars simultaneously -- and you would be right. In fact, your little Swarmites are constantly dying off due to traps, environmental hazards, and good old-fashioned failed jumps. Not only is this okay, it's necessary; each death increases your score multiplier, and interesting deaths result in in-game awards.

If controlling small, isolated hordes of dim-witted beings is something that interests you, then you've got to be spinning in your chair in excitement for Hothead's Swarm. Well, stop before you vomit -- and also so you can watch this new trailer.

Trust Dr. Mike: he knows how to combine swarm moves to traverse a brutally dangerous environment.

Even Swarms need love, no matter how incapable they are of feelings and intelligence!

Get the basics on controlling the Swarm in the first installment of the Ask Dr. Mike video series!

The Swarm has not yet learned the secrets of fireproofing, as evidenced by the inferno of this level.

Landmines and chasms do not make surviving any easier for the Swarm.

Brave the perilous world filled with traps eager to reduce your swarm to nothingness!

So cute, you'll die.

Who is Hothead Games? Find out with this diary!

The team behind DeathSpank tackles communism at Hothead Games!

How does Hothead make games funny? Tap the wisdom of Three's Company in this diary.

Hothead Games has finally announced the release platforms for its Lemmings-esque action-puzzle game, Swarm. Folks interested in manipulating the minds of the pudgy blue buggers above will be pleased to know that they'll be charged with doing so on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN early next year.

We're glad the game will receive the TLC provided by those two huge platforms, but you know which platform we really wish it was coming to? Real life. Really, really look at that those Swarmites in the picture above. We want one.

Players can download the ultra addictive action game In early 2011.

TGS: Swarm Screenshots